Buy it... if you want one of the best compilations of a composer's
original recordings (of a certain era) ever released commercially.

Avoid it... if neither the symphonically tragic nor electronically
hip styles of Danny Elfman's career appeal to you at all.

EDITORIAL REVIEW

FILMTRACKS TRAFFIC RANK: #491

WRITTEN
12/6/96, REVISED 2/12/06

BUY IT

Elfman

Music for a Darkened Theatre: Volume II: (Danny
Elfman) The early 1990's arguably represent the pinnacle of composer
Danny Elfman's achievements in film music. In the shadows of
Batman, the rocker turned composer cranked out scores that have
either earned him millions (Edward Scissorhands and The
Nightmare Before Christmas) or have continued to earn the quiet
respect of film music critics across the board (Black Beauty and
Sommersby). The first "Music for a Darkened Theatre" compilation
was released in 1990 just as Elfman fans were experiencing the zeal of
discovering a fantastic new talent in the genre, and the single album
contained tracks from his earliest days through Darkman,
Nightbreed, and Dick Tracy. By late 1996, Elfman had
matured into a A-class composer in Hollywood and had already begun his
transition from his gothic, symphonic efforts to the more electronic and
percussive sorts that better reflected his pre-orchestral scoring days.
Just as Mars Attacks! was hitting the theatres, Elfman released
his much anticipated "Music for a Darkened Theatre: Volume II" for his
fans to chew on, and the 2CD set remains one of the best composer
compilations ever to be pressed commercially. The remarkable aspect of
these "Music for a Darkened Theatre" albums is that it is difficult
(fiscally and ownership-wise) to get such massive compilations of
original recordings released, and "Volume II" (like the first CD)
presented some never-before released music in the days before bootlegged
CDrs spoiled fans with access to such works. Matching his eccentric
personality, the packaging of the set includes bizarre photography of
the composer, as well as insightful and funny remarks by Elfman about
each section of the album. The only wide-spread complaints about the
album include some curious edits of cues (and mixing of adjoining music)
and, more importantly, the fact that the scores are not presented in
chronological order of release. A quick rundown of both CDs
follows.

The first CD of the set opens with the necessary suite
from Elfman's personal favorite (and most fans' favorites from the
composer), Edward Scissorhands. Elfman touches on both the
comedic and tragic elements of the score by ranging in inclusion from
"Barber" to the absolutely essential "Grand Finale." The lesser-known
but respected Dolores Claiborne score suffers perhaps the most in
its placement on the album, simply unable to compete with the
overbearing emotion of Edward Scissorhands and the quirkiness of
To Die For. The latter score is among one of Elfman's most
playful, with the juxtaposition of an innocent children's chorus with
rocking electric guitar rips performed by Elfman himself. A bizarre
roller coaster of a ride, To Die For is an important inclusion
here if only because it will likely ward some Elfman's pre-1995 fans
away from its complete album. Back to Elfman's tragic favorites, a
generous offering from Black Beauty skillfully merges several
cues from across the score into one unsurprisingly gorgeous suite. As a
nod to his Batman theme (another personal favorite of his), the
collection of cues from Batman Returns includes the obvious
pronouncements of the title theme, as well as the "End Credits"
representation of Penguin and Catwoman themes. The second CD offers a
wider variety of Elfman's production, beginning with the hot score at
the time, Mission: Impossible. While the score would be a
rhythmically percussive departure from Elfman's previous action music,
it's interesting to note that he chose to include on this album the cues
that are most similar to the rest of his body of work, highlighted by
the "Betrayal" cue that tops the score in quality. None of Lalo
Schifrin's theme appears here (perhaps due to rights issues). By
contrast, Sommersby remains a hidden gem, and its lengthy suite
is extremely welcome on this compilation. For any fan of Elfman's tragic
symphonic works, this suite will send you seeking the score's original
album without hesitation.

Among one of Elfman's commercially unreleased scores at
the time was Dead Presidents, which combined with To Die
For caused considerable shock for fans of the composer in 1995.
Among the alternately harsh and hip 1970's rock sounds came the
introduction of the electric base into Elfman's ensembles... a permanent
addition. Woefully out of place on the album is The Nightmare Before
Christmas, for which Elfman includes the three most impressive score
cuts from the album and unfortunately none of the songs (perhaps a
rights issue once again?). The unreleased score for early 1996's
Freeway, a gift score from Elfman for a friend, is Elfman's first
improvised synthetic work, and hails back to his "Face Like a Frog"
days... it's truly bizarre and sick, bordering on completely intolerable
even to a veteran Elfman collector. The odd selection of items that
follows typically falls closer to this bizarre end of the spectrum, with
Shrunken Heads resembling The Nightmare Before Christmas
very closely. Elfman's "Amazing Stories" cues --like those of John
Williams-- are highly valued and offer some of Elfman's most comedic
symphonic writing since Beetlejuice. The theme for the 1990
Warner TV show "The Flash" is a playful Batman knock-off. The
four cues from "Pee Wee's Playhouse" are lower-budget renditions of the
nearly identical film score cues, and they can't compare to the original
orchestral performances. The Beetlejuice television show theme
likewise will send you scampering for the original. The album ends with
a remarkable demo of "This is Halloween" from The Nightmare Before
Christmas in which Elfman confirms his immense talents to the world
by performing every instrument and voice himself. This 2-CD set is
simply unbeatable in its lengthy offerings of original recordings from
each of the composer's works between 1991 and 1996. With the continued
movement towards diversity in Elfman's career, a third volume is highly
wished for by his fans, though with ten years passed without any word on
Volume III and such a large volume of material now collected in his
career, any hopes for such an album are slim. Even so, if Elfman can
ever arrange the finances and permissions necessary for Volume III,
there's everything from the magical Nissan commercial music from 1996 to
the fifteen minutes of beautiful unreleased music from The Family
Man to be included. Let's keep hoping... *****@Amazon.com: CD or
Download

Bias Check:

For Danny Elfman reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.22
(in 73 reviews)and the average viewer rating is 3.2
(in 129,013 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.